Stolen Heart of Fire chapter 14

The next morning she was awakened by what felt like something bumping her feet. She opened her eyes and saw nothing unusual other than her dragon for a husband sleeping against the far wall. She must have been imagining things. Marco was still asleep so maybe she could get a couple more hours as well. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. She found herself drifting off into a daydream. Everything was fuzzy but that did not matter because she was focused on Marco, who was lying beside her. He was the handsome man she had run away with and married. He looked back at her with his deep green eyes and whispered, "I love you, Lilia."
"I love you too, Marco," she mumbled as she wrapped her arms lovingly around her pillow, deep in her fantasy. His black hair was neatly parted away from his face except for a few strands which dangled down. He gazed into her eyes while hers feasted upon his shirtless body. He was muscular but in a modest trim way was sleek and attractive. He smiled as she admired him and slid a hand onto her leg. His hand felt warm against her skin as he slowly caressed her thigh. The sensations felt wonderful. She smiled and pulled him close and they gazed into each other's eyes. The moment was tender and time seemed to stop. She loved him, he loved her, and nothing else mattered. It was comfortable, peaceful, and she would be happy if the moment lasted forever. His arm ran smoothly up her body and… Wait. Something didn't make sense. Lilia opened her eyes, tearing herself from her fantasy. Something was in her bed. Looking down, she saw the form of a snake in the contours of the blanket. The snake was slithering up her body towards her head. It moved quickly and was about to make its way out from under the blanket when she shrieked. The snake flew backwards through the air, pulling the blanket with it. By this time she had sat up and was pressing herself against the headrest to be as far from it as possible. The moment was silent as she tried to sort out what just happened. Marco was awake. He was looking at her and had her blanket on the end of his tail.
He moved to the side of her bed. "Good morning. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you."
Her heart was still pounding. "I thought that was a snake." Sh¬¬¬e said¬¬.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted do wake you up by doing something funny." He turned away and moved his tail in front of her with the blanket still on it. "Here's your blanket" he said in a combination of embarrassment and outright shame.
Her heart had slowed down almost to its normal pace by now. Instead of taking the blanket right away, she looked at him for a moment. He was feeling guilty again. It wasn't entirely his fault. She heard the tone in his voice when he had woke her up. He was just being a bit mischievous and having some fun. No doubt he was trying to amuse her. She wanted him to have more fun with her and stop being so morose. She took the blanket and to Marco's surprise, also grabbed his tail. "I've got your tail." She giggled.
Marco turned around and looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. "Do you like my tail? I thought it scared you."
"I know you had good intentions, dear. I was just startled by it. I like that you're becoming less shy."
"Really? You want me to be bolder?"
She still was holding his tail, which was now lying motionless on her lap. "I don't want you to be so cowardly. I like your humility though. It's cute. But you shouldn't be so hard on yourself all the time. I'm still adjusting to this too. I just got startled this morning. We don't really have good luck with our mornings."
"No we don't." he said ashamed as he recalled the first morning she had seen him as a dragon.
"Cheer up. Let's do something fun together."
Marco smiled. "Okay. What should we do?"
Lilia thought for a moment when the sound of her stomach growling interrupted her thoughts. "I suppose we should get something to eat."
"I think we're running out of bread, though. What should I get you?" he said with concern.
She quickly replied, "I'll just have some of whatever you're eating."
He was silent for a moment possibly pondering if she knew what he ate. "I guess you can do that if you want."
She thought of how fun this would be as she climbed onto her husband's back and made herself comfortable in-between his wings. And thus, they departed for the woods, looking forward to properly doing something together as a couple for what seemed like the first time. Once discovering a clearing in the woods, Marco stopped and allowed Lilia to climb down off of his back.
The air was still and the only sounds that could be heard were their own steps and the occasional bird. The trees of the forest had long since expanded to catch as much sunlight as they could. This one clearing where the dirt had been washed away leaving only a smooth stone surface was the only exception. The sunlight shone through the leaves as a brilliant ray caught whatever pollen and dust was in the air. It was beautiful but at the same time unnerving. "Do you think those bandits could be around here?" she asked Marco in a worried tone.
Marco smiled. "Don't worry. I'll be hunting nearby. If anything happens, I'll hear it and be right here to keep you safe." He said with a hint of satisfaction.
"That does make me feel better. I'm glad I have you here." She said, patting Marco. Marco was probably enjoying this opportunity to act like a hero to his wife.
"Before you go, can you get some wood?" She asked.
Marco looked around. He spotted a tree that had not grown like all the rest, but had died and withered up instead. Marco walked over to the tree, grabbed it with his forelimbs and snapped it off at the base of the trunk. She watched him in amazement as he dragged the tree in the center of the clearing. "Is that enough?" he asked. The tree was wider than her arm and probably would have taken over twenty of the king's strongest soldiers to carry it. She stared at it for a few moments before realizing her jaw was hanging open. She regained her composure. "Yes, that's plenty." She was not sure if Marco was aware of the understatement here. He only smiled and was happy that he had been helpful.
"Is there anything else you need before I go hunting?" he asked in a cheerful voice.
A fire would be useful since she had planned on making one. But she needed something to do while Marco was hunting. Perhaps she could surprise or even impress him with her human ingenuity. "No that's all. You can go now."
Before he had gone almost completely out of Lilia's sight, he turned around to look at her one last time. She smiled and waved at him. He tried to wave back but the unfamiliar gesture was a bit awkward with his forelimbs. He left with a grin on his face, knowing that he was going to catch something big to impress his wife.
After being left alone, she began building what would hopefully be a great fire for roasting. She may have been a princess that never properly learned the proper way to make a fire but it couldn't be that difficult. She gathered some rocks around and arranged them in a circle. Not content with this, she expanded this to the size of a bonfire pit. Breaking off parts of the tree proved to be a useful way to get small pieces of firewood. The next task was to set the fire up so they could have a spit roast. She toiled away hoping that she was doing this correctly. After what had seemed to be way to long of a time working with sticks, she finally made the set up. She was proud of herself. Wait until Marco saw this. Of course the whole thing was useless without fire. Marco could obviously solve this. But who know when he would be back. Wouldn't it be nice to surprise him with a blazing fire that she had made herself? He would know that he had married not only a beautiful woman, but a clever one as well. She sat down and thought of how to make a fire. All she knew was what she had observed servants do while tending the fireplace. If it was glowing they could just blow on it until it lit. It was uncommon for the fire to not already be lit. She couldn't remember them actually starting it. Eventually she tried banging rocks together and rubbing sticks. Her hands were getting sore, but she knew this would work eventually and persisted in her efforts.
A rustling noise startled her some time later. "Phlilial! Ighe baech," said a muffled voice.
That must have been Marco. She quickly tossed aside the sticks and rocks in her hands and pretended to be looking at the birds just before Marco came in view. He trotted into the clearing looking as proud as if were in a parade. In his mouth were two large animals. They were probably moose by the looks of them. He looked down at her and said, "wlorf agh gaught shomving!"
"What did you say Marco? It's not polite to talk with stuff in your mouth. I can't understand what you're saying."
He dropped the carcasses on the ground, making a loud thud noise as they hit the ground. The heads flopped to disturbing angles with the help of their now broken necks.
Marco smiled. "Look I caught something!" he said with the same enthusiastic tone but now much clearer than the first time.
She stared and the freshly caught game. There were teeth marks all over them dripping with blood. One of them had the skin on its back leg all torn up. The bodies were lying on the ground in crooked ways the hinted that the spines were broken in several places. The ground below them was growing red with blood as it leaked out of them.
Lilia was impressed and the somewhat gruesome sight didn't really bother her. She had in fact, grown accustomed to seeing this kind of thing over years of soldiers, which were sometimes accompanied by her father, come back with spoils of their hunts. Marco wagged his tail a bit and smiled. "I caught one for you and one for me," he spoke cheerfully. Lilia had rarely seen him act as happy as this before. It was odd but, Lilia thought it was cute. It was nice that he was so happy in trying to please her.
"I don't think I can eat all of that," she chuckled.
"Oh of course not," he replied with a nervous laugh.
"But I would like to have some of that one," she said pointed to the one on top.
He pushed the carcass across the ground in her direction. "There you are."
The concept of cooking had apparently not crossed his mind. In fact he hadn't noticed the fire pit set up she had made.
"I'd rather cook it first. Can you help me with something?"
"Oh? What is it?"
"I need you to set that pile of wood in the middle of those rocks on fire."
"Is that it?"
"Not quite just get the fire first."
"Okay step back a little bit."
Lilia did so and watched as Marco performed one of dragons' most famous feats. He inhaled and blew out a strong stream of fire. When this subsided, some of the wood had been burned to ash. The larger pieces were burning nicely. Lilia was very impressed. But now the pile of wood to burn was smaller. She broke more pieces of the tree off and threw it in the fire. Marco watched her with interest. He had no seen a human making a fire since he had watched Rinaldo when he was little. Although Rinaldo had always used some kind of magic to get his fireplace started. Marco used his claw and chipped some pieces off of the tree to help. She got the fire to a nice blaze. She coughed and winced as the smoke came up and stung her eyes. The heat pushed her hair back causing it to fall in a mess all over her face. She turned away from the fire and distanced herself from it, rubbing her eyes.
"Are you okay, Lilia?"
"Yes, I'm okay." She said after a bit of coughing. "Now I need you to shove that large wooden pole through this moose."
Marco did as he was told. He took the pole, a mere stick in his hand, and shoved it into the moose's mouth until it ripped out through the other end of it. More blood spilled on the ground. It did not matter much since Marco's hands and mouth already had a very noticeable amount on them. He hoped that he was doing whatever it was correctly.
"Now place it on those stick frames on each side of the fire."
Marco grabbed ends and suspended it from the holders over the fire.
"Is that good?" he asked her.
She nodded just before the moose's fur caught fire. It started as just a flame on one of the legs but quickly spread and engulfed the entire carcass. This was embarrassing. "Maybe we should have taken the skin off first. I think we were also supposed to gut it."
Marco looked at Lilia and the burning moose. The smell of burning hair was horrible. He was silent for a moment until he said, "Do you want the other one?"
"No that's fine. I think we can salvage this one. Can you put it out first?"
Marco picked up the skewered, burning moose and cupped his hands around it. Opening them back up released a cloud of foul smoke. "I'm not sure why you humans cook your meat anyways. It takes out all the flavor." He picked the charred skin off of the moose. "I'm going to gut it now. You can look away," he stated.
This was very considerate of Marco and Lilia did decide that she didn't need to see Marco gutting the moose. They turned away from each other. Lilia walked a good distance from the fire to avoid the smell and the smoke. Meanwhile, Marco used a claw to cut open the charred belly of the moose. He then scooped them out with his claw and ate them. There was no sense in wasting good food. Marco was used to eating all of it raw anyways. He licked the blood off of his claws when he had finished. He placed the moose back over the fire to let it roast. "I'm finished, dear. You can come back now."
Lilia returned to the fire. The awful smoke and stench of burning hair started to dissipate.
When the moose was well cooked, Marco took it off of the fire and tore off a leg for Lilia. He put the fire out as Lilia started eating the leg. Despite what had happened to it, the meat was fairly tasty. She ate as much as she could, and then stopped to look at Marco. He was discreetly eating the other moose without cooking it, as was his custom. He didn't want Lilia to see him eating like a savage monster. He looked back at her every once in a while to find her staring at him. He tried to be neat, but in the end he figured that he should just finish eating it quickly so she didn't watch him eat anymore. Lilia gave him the rest of her moose to eat. After Lilia convinced Marco that she was no longer hungry, he took care of the rest of it for her.
When he finished he laid down on his front, contently. He gazed at Lilia and she stared at him. There was no question in her mind that Marco was feeling completely different about the moment than she was. He was probably lost himself in her eyes or something similar. She on the other hand was staring at his huge dragon body structure that had blood running down the side of it. The stuff was on his claws, all over his snout, and dripping down his neck. Maybe he had forgotten about it. He must have forgotten about it. If he was even the least bit sensitive about being a dragon, being covered in that much blood might send him into fits of panic. He looked happy but it was a bit unsettling to see him covered in blood like that. "I think we should get washed off," she said abruptly.
Marco emerged from his daydreaming and slowly became aware of what she said. He looked at his claws and recoiled in horror. Drying blood was all over his claws. He had been covered in blood in front of Lilia. As Marco was quickly soaking in the horror of his monstrous appearance, Lilia had turned away from him.
"Please calm down. I did see you like that, but panicking will make it worse."
"Don't look at me please." Marco whined and then trying to clean his claws off.
"Your eating habits could use some improvement." She stated.
"I'm sorry you had to see this," he whined.
"It's okay to an extent. I figured dragons eat like this, but you do look a bit unsettling covered in blood."
"I know I do, I should have paid more attention."
"It's nothing I haven't seen eating at the table with the kings men. Let's just bath somewhere," she said as she got up and climbed on top of him. "I'm a bit dirty too now. Do you know anywhere we can go?"
"I know a lake. I'll take us there." He said starting to walk in the direction the lake must have been.
Lilia observed everything in the scenery. When she lived in Anovea, she had never been outside. She could only see it from afar from her balcony. But now she felt somehow better than a princess now. She had a powerful dragon escorting her through the woods to a lake for her to bath in. If some fortune teller would have told her about this a year ago, she would have personally seen to it that the fortune teller get some help for troubled mind.
The leaves rustled softly in the breeze. Riding high on Marco's back, she had a very good view of the trees and no longer needed to look up to gaze up at them from the ground. Marco seemed to know where he was going and in a few minutes they passed through the trees and arrived on the shore of a large lake. The surface of the lake showed the perfect reflection of the sky as clouds drifted over.
"Okay here we are. I'll let you down and get this washed off." Marco said stopping at the edge of the lake. He lowered his body to the ground and positioned his head to serve as a ramp. He felt Lilia get up and start walking the other way. He felt her sliding down his tail and heard a laugh as she got off and landed on the ground. He turned back to her.
"I guess you can get off that way too."
She laughed some more and watched Marco enter the lake. He wadded in, turning the water murky brown as it mixed with mud stirred up from the bottom the red of the blood from his claws. Marco had to wade quite far into the lake to get his whole body submerged. His scales lifted slightly in the water, and their wetness caused the sun to catch many of the individual scales making them shine like obsidian. He closed his eyes as the water flowed underneath his scales making contact with his skin, normally always covered with those tight scales, it felt amazingly soothing. He lowered his face down into the water and let the blood wash away. He felt relaxed, and did not even hear the soft splashing of Lilia wading into the lake after him.  After a few moments Marco lifted his face out of the water. Water dripped from his body as he turned around. The scales on his underside now gleamed like polished ruby in the light. Lilia was no longer standing where he last saw her. He saw something moving in the water in corner of his eye. When he looked, he saw that she was washing herself in the lake naked. It was only then that he noticed her clothes lying in the grass beside the lake. He had only glimpsed at her before quickly turning his head away embarrassed.
"What's wrong, Marco?"
"I didn't know you were naked. I know humans don't like being seen naked, so I'll give you privacy to bathe." He answered without looking.
"You don't have to look away like that. I don't mind. I think my own husband should be able to see me."
Marco hesitated "Are you…I'm not sure. It's kind of different for us isn't it?"
Lilia rolled her eyes, "With that kind of attitude, our marriage will be awkward and won't get very far in the long run."
Marco relented and after a few moments of further hesitation, turned his head to face her. She looked up at him and smiled. She was almost naked when he saved her from those bandits. In the moment he didn't really notice, but now with the calmness of the moment, it was all he could notice. His big green serpentine eyes stared at her figure, eyeing it up and down. Lilia looked back at him and splashed water in her golden hair to wash it. After a few moments she gave her attention back to washing herself. Marco could stare all he wanted. All men were captivated by the sight of a lady free of her clothes. It seemed a bit odd though. Her mind stopped straining itself at its ongoing, impossible task of ignoring their biological differences and thought over it. In terms of physical attraction, she was far from what a dragon should fancy. Female dragons were nothing like her, yet Marco continued staring as if… She glanced at Marco and noticed his jaw had lowered a bit in a way that would have been humorous it not for his teeth...Where was she? Oh yes… staring as if his mind had ceased in all other things so it could focus and figure out some little puzzle before him. The moment grew longer and awkward as she washed and he stared. He could not have found her human body that attractive. She pondered what it would be like to be a dragon seeing the naked form of another species before. It was a mystery indeed what kind of deep thoughts were running through that big head of his.
"Lilia, I'm wondering something." Marco began.
"Oh? What is it?"
""Why do royals employ wet-nurse maids? I'm sure you're more than capable of feeding your young yourself. Your breasts seem perfectly healthy.  You could probably nurse twins with no trouble."
"…" She didn't quite know what to say to this and remained speechless for a moment before saying, "er…thank you. I'm not sure why."
She finished washing herself and enjoyed the scenery and the feeling of the water. Just beside the lake to one side was a mountain with a cliff overlooking the lake. She wanted to stay in the lake a bit longer even though they were both finished washing. Marco wadded out of the lake and kept his black coat in its slightly puffed out position. After most of the water had dripped through the array of scales, he closed them back into the tight formation that he normally had them in.
"Marco, how well can you fly?" inquired Lilia as the eyed his folded wings.
"I'm not sure. I haven't tried for a while." He said as he sat down on the shore.
"Well that's a shame that you have those big wings and never use them."
"I don't really need to fly. I do well enough on the ground."
"I think that would be the best part of being a dragon. You might as well enjoy it."
"I try not to think of myself as a dragon."
"That sounds difficult. Why though?"
"It makes me feel like a monster." He sighed as he glanced at his claws and laid his
"I don't think you look like a monster at all."
"What do I look like then?"
Lilia waded out of the lake and sat next to his head on the grass. Her naked body was dripping wet but Marco didn't think much of it in this mood. She stroked his head and rubbed behind his horns. "I think you look exotic."
Marco smiled a bit and looked up at her. "What do you mean by that?
"Well you're very regal looking with those horns and your strong tail…" here voice fell quiet as she gazed across the scenic lake.
"Keep going." He said eagerly.
She chuckled and resumed. "Well…All your black scales look gorgeous on you. The way they contour around your body so smoothly gives your skin the look of a beautiful polished serpent."
She chose her words very well. Marco had a smile on his muzzle as she continued stroking his head and pouring compliments over him.
"You also have the muscles of a lion and perfectly arranged pearl-white teeth. If there was a creature that looked half as noble as you, the person who had a tame one would be envied by even the wealthiest of royalty."
Marco rubbed his head gently against her body as she spoke about him. "Thank you, dear. I've never heard anything that kind said about my appearance. I never thought of myself like that. You're very gorgeous yourself."
She looked into his eyes as he stared back at her through his slit pupils. "I don't think there's an emerald in existence that can match the beauty and luster of your green eyes." She whispered. She felt like she falling in love with in an odd new way. That must have been a good thing considering they were already married.
"That's a really kind thing to say. Thank you."
"I would certainly want to enjoy the benefits of benefits of being a dragon if I were you."
"I suppose. I'm not sure how well I would do."
"Don't worry. You could try flying off that cliff. If you don't do well, the lake will break your fall."
Marco thought about that. Lilia did seem to want him to fly. He wouldn't mind either. Usually it was the danger involved that discouraged him from flying. The lake was deep enough over there to safely break his fall if necessary. It would still hurt but he would be safe at least. "If you want me to I will."
"Of course I do. I'd love to see you use your wings. I'll wait here and dry off while I watch."
Marco left and traversed his way up the cliff. He arrived at the edge and looked over it. It was a long way down. The lake was below him and stretched far out from the cliff. He paused staring down at the lake. The height he saw was examined by his mind as he was frozen with anxiety. One thought came back after just a few seconds at the edge. "That's a long way down." How helpful. He looked over and saw Lilia watching on the grass beside the lake. She waved at him. He certainly didn't want to look cowardly in front of her. He could at least do it for her. Dragons fly all the time don't they? If they had wings like his, flying must been simple. He had to go for it. It would all be over in less than a minute, so he could relax then. He closed his eyes, backed up, and opened up his wings. "Let's get this over with." He mumbled to himself. He charged to the edge of the cliff and leapt off the edge. He kept his wings spread out as far as they would go pulling the membrane tightly. Air rushed past his body as his heart raced. His mind was quickly working to decide whether he was flying or falling. Air was pushing back against his wings as if they were kites. However they only seemed to slow his rapid descent. They were stretched out as far as they could go, but it only seemed to aim his body like a streamlined arrow as he plunged downward. Gravity had shifted and he noticed that his body was now falling at a steeper angle. He focused on the water of the lake. It got closed and eventually the muddy bottom became discernable. It was approaching quickly as if it wanted to give him a big hug. When he collided with the water, his straight pose broke quickly and a large splash spayed what parts of him were not already in the water. His wings and limps thrashed about as he struggled to get back up. Large ripples from the splash spread the mud that had been disturbed from the bottom. Marco oriented himself and trudged onto land leaving a trail of mud clouds in the water, showing where he had been.
"Are you okay?" Lilia asked as her dripping loved one sat down beside her.
"I'm okay. I just haven't tried that in a while."
"It was good for your first time in a while."
"Really? I couldn't tell"
"You were gliding very nicely at first. But then you seemed to tense up and shot downwards."
"I feel silly."
"How so?"
"For a human it would be like a grown man struggling with tying his boots or riding a horse."
Lilia chuckled at the thought. "Don't worry about it. You'll get better with practice. Dragons are natural fliers, so you just need to relax."
"I don't want to do it again today."
"I understand. We'll go home and we can try again tomorrow."
She stood up and started putting her dress back on.
"You mean I'll be doing this again?"
"If you practice every day, it'll be simple for you."
She now had the dress pulled up and was reaching back to tie the knot.
"But I don't need to fly. I'm happy with my legs and I don't relish the idea of jumping off that cliff every day."
"But Marco…please?" she said looking up at him. She had now finished getting the dress on.
He stared back into her eyes. He wanted to discuss this to try to get out of it, but her gaze seemed to have a hold on him.
"Oh, alright, I'll try it again. But I'll do it tomorrow." He relented.
She hugged his front leg, "I look forward to it."
Marco rolled his eyes, but Lilia ignored him and climbed onto his back and made herself comfortable. Marco began to wonder if she was trying to kill him, because he couldn't think of any other reason she wanted him to do this so much. He couldn't just give up though. The least he could do was to give it a try. He could wait to do this tomorrow. With that in his mind and Lilia reclining between his wings, Marco headed back home.